just wanna say i’m so happy to see you reading south asian lit. i started reading moth by melody razak after i saw it in your haul and i can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it because i’m really enjoying it! tomb of sand is also on the tbr because as a pakistani i really want to read a book set in pakistan that isn’t male-centric. the fact that it also features a trans woman is soooo amazing because south asia has such an amazing history of trans and gender non-conforming people! (whom the colonizers actively targetted and ostracized) also wanna appreciate the breathtaking visual experience your vlogs are! ❤️❤️
ally!!! happy sunday! if you want to explore more latin american literature, i highly recommend the hour of the star by clarice lispector! it’s a really short read about life and poverty and ambition and death and i think you might like it. not to mention how lispector is one of the only women in the brazilian literary canon, she was a contemporary of virginia woolf and a lot of people compare their writing to each other.
My WIT Month TBR has been as follows 1)Catch the Rabbit by Lana Batasic (translated from Bosnian): A woman living in Dublin gets a phonecall from her childhood friend she hasnt spoken to in 12 years saying that her brother who went missing in the Bosnian War has been found in Vienna and she needs her to fly back to Bosnia to drive her to Vienna. Told in split timeline of memories and the roadtrip, 3 Stars 2) The Wandering by Intan Paramditha (translated from Indonesian): A literary fiction choose your own adventure book about a woman who makes a pact with the devil saying she wants to travel the world and then you the reader make decisions about where she goes, who she talks to e.t.c. I absolutely devoured this, spent like 6 hours trying to get all the different endings and I know I didn't get all of them, but I'm happy with the amount I got. You get dejavu in places because the author puts similar details in different paths (e.g. there's a musician and in one path she watches him on TV and in another she's talking to him at a gig ) and it's very well done. If you're lucky you'll find the gay ending which I think was my favourite one, 5 Stars 3)The Copenhagen Trilogy / Childhood, Youth, Dependency (Depending on where you live) by Tove Ditlevsen (translated from Danish): WARNING: Major TW for addiction. Tove Ditlevsen is one of Denmarks most famous writers and this is her autobiography about growing up in the aftermath of WW1 in a working class family in Copenhagen, trying to hone her craft as a writer while working and finding love, and struggling with addiction and living in Nazi occupied Denmark. Very well written, I just didn't connect to it on an emotional level as our lives are so different 3.5 Starts
just started Cursed Bunny last night and read the first story… I went to sleep staring at my ceiling asking myself wtf did I just get into lol cannot wait for you to upload the september calendar & goodies! they will match my phone case so beautifully! 🐌
Ahhhh congrats on 6 years in Belgium!! And 25k!! WOOOO!! love your videos so much, honestly just consider you my lil internet friend who loves books as much as I do ☺️
My favorite translated book thus far is Beartown by Fredrik Backman. It's about the intersection of sports and society and how good athletes are more likely to skate by if they do something wrong. I've been in sports my whole life and it's my job now. This area of sports is one of the things I struggle with daily because it bothers me so much, it's also something that few in the sports world are willing to discuss and I've recommended it to just about all of of my colleagues because it needs to be talked about and I think Backman did a good capturing the issue. It also touches on the pressures related to being an athlete and how being held on a pedestal doesn't allow you to truly be yourself, but that's more in the second book than the first.
I'm so gonna pick up tomb of sand now, it sounds amazing. You've inspired me to make a couch bed and read all day tomorrow before I go back to university! Have a good Sunday Ally 🐱
Absolutely love your videos. Such great selections for WIT Month. I can't believe how quickly you read Tomb of Sand! I think it's calling me for the long winter months ahead. Congratulations on your 6 years! I've been living in Berlin for 18 years, yikes! I'm originally from NY. Am also a migraine sufferer. (Hemiplegic migraines over here.) It always pains me to learn of a fellow sufferer. I wouldn't wish that kind of pain on anyone. Thank you again for such great content. x
a tomb of sand has been on my tbr for months and seeing the amount of tabs on your book excites me and scares me at the same time 😭 love these recommendations, I had no idea that stats for women translators were that low, time to get my hands on some of these books ♥
I’m incredibly intimidated by it but you have convinced me to put Tomb of Sand on my TBR list. The question will be if I am ever ballsy enough to actually pick it up and read it! Thanks for another entertaining and cozy video.
So impressed with your feat of finishing 7 translated books in 7 days. I'm trying to do the same right now (on book 5)! Also, if you have any questions historical/political/societal things that you read in Tomb of Sand, message me on IG! As an Indian, I'm more than happy to help you out. :))
I feel so similarly about Melchor! I read Hurricane Season and it’s so stunningly crafted but man it is absolutely brutal. I imagine it resonates with people who live in that environment, but hoo boy. Gorgeous work but TOUGH. Also! I’ll bet Earthlings by Sayaka Murata is very close to what you were looking for out of Life Ceremony - you can see how she was teasing out that book in those short stories. It’s a wild ride. By the end I was literally holding the book away from me on my fingertips - I both didn’t want to continue but also couldn’t stop. So bizarre.
oh yeah good point. i’ve read earthlings a couple years ago. it was also ok to me. something about convenience store woman just slapped for me the hardest.
Hey Ally! I just wanted to say thank you for being such a wonderful human being and sharing such lovely book content with us! I love your book recs (some of them are howlin at me from the bookshelf) and yesterday I just finished „Lonely Castle in the Mirror“ and this book just hit home very hard. I cried happy tears at the end. Because the book is so beautifully written, and how everything comes back together at the end (and just japanese literature - adore it) and I felt so understood and so seen. So I want to thank you. Because of you I stumbled over this book. Now I‘m going to recommend this book to every human crossing my way. Have a lovely week! Lots of love, sophia
So excited for this! Great way to start a Sunday. I’ve been wanting to read Tomb of Sand since it won the international booker prize. I can’t find it at my local bookshop yet
Thank you once again for this wonderful video. You're such an inspiration for me your new videos are something I look forward to the moment I finish the most recent one:) Your soul is radiating and your taste is immaculate hope you're having a great time and thank you
i’m so excited to read more of the books you’ve recommended!! i recently got a new library card since i moved and it’s given me a lot more motivation to read which is something i’ve struggled with a lot (i’ve read three books this month and am working on a fourth!). your videos are so delightful and i love the passion you have for books and i’m working on rediscovering that for myself. thank you for all that you do :))
I love that you loved Cursed Bunny. One of the best short story collections out there. My favourites were: The Head; Frozen Finger; Goodbye, My Love; and Scars…ugh! I was not a fan of Tomb of Sand. There were parts I loved, but overall it was too disjointed for me. How am I just finding this channel today?!! Your editing and energy *chef’s kiss*.
Hi, I've been binge-watching your videos for a couple days and even though I've been fully aware for a while that you use video game music for your b-roll, I still sometimes check if I accidentally loaded up the sims hahaha. During the vegan pesto bit, I was searching my taskbar like WTF. It really got me.
ALLY! Loved this vlog about translated works, I've been meaning to pick up more. My two favorites are Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica and Confessions by Kanae Minato. While I don't generally like horror in the traditional slasher, body horror, etc variety, I really enjoy things that show how horrific society can be on a large scale like in Tender is the Flesh and on a smaller more intimate community scale like in Confessions. Both of these books rocked me and I spent some time in a cozy crew neck rocking on my bed and thinking about what I had just consumed afterward.
i'm really glad i was able to find your channel! your videos are always a really comfortable environment, and i love spending a little chunk of my week hearing what you're reading and what your thoughts are. everyone has different book tastes but i feel like ours align a lot (mainly lonely castle in the mirror, i haven't met anyone else who has it as a fave!!) so that's also really nice. idk this is a ~rambly comment~ mainly to say: i love your channel, you have great * vibes *, and congrats on hitting 25k!! (and also, your tattoos are so fucking cool LMAO) 🍃💚
Hi Ally! Thanks for brightening up my sunday 😊✨ i’m a bit sad you didn’t enjoy Paradais that much (im from Mexico and Fernanda Melchor is one of my favorite authors), but I do get what you say about the language being too much, you should try reading “Hurricaine Season” tho, it is fast paced too but the plot is more rounded in my opinion, that one is my favorite Melchor so far (ive read all of her work)
I’m in a dark time at my life but your videos always brighten my day. Thanks a lot for that! My favorite translated book is called The Life Before Us/ La vie devant soi by Romain Gary. It’s about unconditional love and forgiveness.
Ali, it really hurts to hear that you’ve been getting more migraines than usual esp since I thought things were looking up for you. You hadn’t mentioned a migraine in a while and, as someone who loves you above and beyond the content you create, I am sending you so many hugs and kisses. Please take care. There’s no rush🐌
All seven books are in my wishlist/TBR. Ally, you are so inspiring person and your videos are so amazing. Thank you for creating this wonderful little corner of the internet
i’ve been meaning to preorder the snail shirt for so long and this upload reminded me to finally do it! i can’t wait to get it and also be able to support you and a good cause
Not a women in translation read but one that I genuinely fall in love with every time I re-read it (it's now my late autumn->early winter comfort read) - The Dragonfly Pool Eva Ibbotson It is such a beautiful read and one that is so easy to follow - it is a super wholesome read and doesn't require big brain energy to follow it at all, i really hope you pick this one up someday!!
I preordered the shirt I'm so excited for it! One of my favorite translated novels is Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (translated from Chinese). I read a fan translation of it (and all the author's other works) in the summer after I graduated from high school and it reignited my love of reading. It's being officially released in English now, although it isn't completely out yet because it's being separated into volumes and released every few months! Idk how to properly describe it but it's such a beautiful, funny, tragic story, with interesting world building, amazing characters, and my favorite slow burn romance ever at its core. Also it's queer and the main relationship is m/m 😎
I really feel like if you're ever in the mood for a beautiful love story, you may enjoy, "The Stationary Shop." It gives me Khaled Hosseini vibes. Thank you for all your hard work and great designs!!
The best book in translation I read this year was Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug (translated from Norwegian). The B&N in my office building was having a sale so I picked it up on a whim and it was such a fun ride. I think you'd really appreciate the philosophical themes and funky writing style! I still think about it a few months post-read.
Thank you for the reminder at 20:07, I took a chug of my water. I love your description of the Art teacher dream style. I'm excited for September's Book of the month, The Lonely Castle in the Mirror! Cute Bookmark 🥰
I think if you liked Fever Dream, you’ll also like Untold Night and Day. It’s a bit discombobulating but the author (and translator) manage to capture the vibes of heat stroke perfectly. It’s so good and it’s short!
*Slurp Slurp* 😆 I’ve been obsessed with Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (horror book) Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (whimsical read)
You describe perfectly how I feel about Fernanda Melchor; I read Hurricane Season and I feel like she has such a way with words and the plots are very nicely built but it was such an uncomfortable read in an unnecessary way. So glad I'm not alone in feeling that way haha. I hope I'll get to read Tomb of sand sometime, it sounds amazing
Also my favourite translated book is The summer book (from Swedish, but from a Finnish author), which is still very eurocentric but I do think you'd enjoy it, they're different stories from a grandmother and her niece during a summer in a little island in Finland, it's really slice-of-life-ish and very cute and moving 💌 I also really loved A family in Brussels, by Chantal Akerman, that one is a really short and introspective look at a mother-daughter relationship and their family, I also really recommended! I read it while I was in Brussels so it was really cool for me too haha
Literally EVERY time I watch an Ally video, I leave with more books on my StoryGraph TBR, this time it’s We Had to Remove this Post, Little Eyes and Cursed Bunny 💎
lovely video, and i'm so excited to check these out. Paradais especially!! that blue cover just calls out to me. Tiny note to say the Nguyen in "Trung Le Nguyen" is pronounced "when"!
Hey! I’m a huge fan of South America literature (really like Isabel Allende such beautiful writing) but I’m a real fan fan f Brazilian literature - Clarice Linspector, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Carolina Maria de Jesus and Helena Morley and soooo many more!
I adore your taste in books so much aaaa I've added so much to my tbr since I started following you and I'm so excited to read em all!!! 😺Also I can see the area where I live from your balcony and it makes my brain feel weird lmao
I was going to attempt to tackle Tomb of Sand this month but not sure I'm brave enough! My fave translated works that I've read this month though have been Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and The Missing of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos. I've also bought Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi which I'm hoping to get to before the end of the month! 🤞🏻
I read Cursed Bunny not too long ago and didn’t really like it ( actually no i quite despised reading it) i’m sorry haha - i just found that there were so many exposition dumps and so so many instances that Bora Chung would write something and them completely contradict it and/or undermine it just a few lines later. I think she had great concept but felt the need to over explain and explicitly tell you this is the moral of the story. Just my opinion. I only liked the last story which i gave 4 stars. And the book averaged out a 2/5 for me as there were 2 stories i found myself wanting to give -5/5 and -2/5 stars because they made me angry 🙃 but i loved what you had to say about it and am glad to see people enjoying it!
I've read two books by Viola Di Grado 70% Acrylic 30% Wool and Hallow Heart, (both translated from Italian) and I LOVED them. I know she's had some recognition in Italy but I think she's extremely underrated in the rest of the world.
hey ally! i loved your video, and would love to see you reading a brazilian book some day! also, i think you would like the books by clarice lispector (i'm pretty sure they're available in english)! she's my favorite author of all times and i wish everybody could read her books (they're really amazing!) a huge hug all the way from brasil, and thank you for the cozy and safe space you've created in this corner of the internet :)
Hi Ally! I’m reading An Immense World by Ed Yong, about how different creatures sense the world around them, and I LOVE it so far! It’s fascinating and well written. (Not a women in translation recommendation, just general)
It's crazy that your 6 year anniversary in Belgium came just 5 days before my 6 year anniversary in Taiwan ! Congrats ! for me it feels both like only yesterday that I arrived and at the same time like an age ago. Does it feel like that for you, too ? Also the best 6 years of my life, and I hope you also look back and think that yours have been wonderful too !
While I remember, a WIT novel from Taiwan that I've loved is Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin, a lesbian literary icon from Taiwan who wrote one of the first openly lesbian chinese-language books. It's her first novel, and she only lived to 26 because she took her own life after finishing her second book (Last Words from Montmartre). Notes of a Crocodile is essentially a little chronicle of a group of queer friends in 1980s Taipei from the point of view of the lesbian protagonist, and it unusually sort of discusses lots of the same kind of queer issues we're discussing now, in a way, despite being written in the early 90s. It's also the first chinese-language book to say "I'm a woman who loves women" openly, and the source of one of the mandarin words for lesbian, "lazi". The newest translation has had some mixed reviews, but I loved it and how funky and unique the book is. I do strongly recommend it, especially because taiwanese literature in general is really overlooked, although now people all around the world are hearing about taiwan for the first time because of the recent news... ! Regardless, it's quite short and it would be a great addition to your shelf, though I know your TBR is very long ! haha
My favourite translated book is The Murderer's Ape by Jakob Wegelius. It's a children's book about a sentient gorilla called Sally Jones who must clear her friend's name when he's imprisoned for murder. It's so gentle and warm, but still full of adventure, and Sally Jones is a fantastic character. Highly recommend
I have little eyes in my bookshelf since the beggining of the year so I'm taking this video as a sign to finally read it 🤣 oh and the cats, I always love seeing them, sooooo cuteee ❤️❤️❤️
Another smashing video! I loved this concept 😍 Have you every read any Fredrik Backman? He is a Swedish author most famous for his book "a man called Ove". He explores the essence of being a human with such grace and humour and has a narrative voice like no one i've ever read. Every book I've read by him is on my favourites shelf, ten out of ten would recommend!
loved this video! so much fun. you should read island beneath the sea by isabel allende, from chile, and pretty much anything written by argentinian people because we have some incredible literature jaja
when you were talking about life ceremony i though you were going to say "if it is about cannibalism, i'll read it" which,,,, would have beeb valid (the cannies) lmao im so excited to read some Murata myself!!!
Soooo happy to see Fernanda Melchor there! But i hated Paradais hahahaha it's so cruel it makes me really angry, but i think all her books are just like that, really raw visions from little mexican towns. My favorite one is "Aquí no es Miami"
Loved the video! I'm definitily putting Cursed Bunny and Little Eyes on my TBR. Maybe you would like QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling, a german author. It's a really funny book that provides a satirical view on our very consumerist society in the age of the internet. It's also really popular in Germany where i'm from, so you might want to check it out! Thanks for your amazing videos, i'm already looking forward to the next one! 💕
ally sometimes i feel like you are me and i am you loooolz i just adore your channel!! so many emotions. so much joy, so many good recipes, kimchi, rainbow books, gay love, this is my favorite place on the internet!!! if you get a chance amidst your adventures and reading, could you say where the totoro pillow on your bed is from? i've been looking for one like it for ages, thank you ^_____^
i’ve had it since i was a teenager my sister and i found them at wood field mall (hot topic maybe?) i’m sorry i don’t have a more helpful answer! thank you for enjoying this cozy corner of the internet ✨✨✨
I'm so excited to read Cursed Bunny after this and then found out it's not released in my country yet! Ah well something to look forward to. Please though I have to know - what brand is your water bottle? I mean to ask every time it appears and forget by the end of the video 🤣 EDIT: Ok I've reached the end of the video and I have to say one of my favourite books growing up was Mimus by Lilli Thal, translated from German. I haven't read it in a few years but I remember really liking the depiction of Mimus as a character.
thank you for sharing your favs! also i don’t remember the bottle brand there’s no name on it and i’ve had it for years. i got it at some bulk store. any metal insulated bottle with a flippy top should do the trick! i’m sorry i couldn’t be a better help.
i hated the discomfort of evening because altho i admire just how uncomfortable it made me feel, i do not love being uncomfortable! i promise that's not dutch lit (altho i advise staying clear from the old white male authors)
Dear Ally, with the next translated books you are going to read would you consider giving a shoutout to the translators and give us their names? Since they don't get enough recognition and praise, but really are the reason why we are able to read books from all over the world in our native/prefered language. Love, love, love your reading vlogs! ❤
ally ally! idk why this just popped into my head but have you read everyone's an aliebn when ur a aliebn too by jonny sun?? it's a graphic novel (sort of?) and easily one of my favorite things i've ever read and you would loooooooove it. it's like if the little prince was sillier and about anxiety/productivity/a million other things. definitely check it out if you get the chance! it also takes like an hour to get through max due to its graphic novel nature
